Condition of Man
by lyonhearted
Summary: After Snape's position is compromised, he struggles with making use of himself in the fight against Voldemort. With new friends and old enemies, the solution to end the war is closer and more different than anyone could have guessed. AU from beginning of OoTP.
1. Chapter 1

**A/N: Wow, it's been a very long time since I've tried to publish anything...Here's to my first attempt at a real fanfiction. Cheers!**

 **Here's my disclaimer, to apply to the span of the story: Anything you recognize is J.K.'s. I'm just borrowing them.**

 _The Dark Lord always had the most impeccable timing_ , Severus thought viciously as he attempted to contain the acidic slop eating through his cauldron and now worktable. He had been attempting to add bicorn horn to an experimental potion, only to jerk from the pain of the summons and dump the whole blasted jar in. Ignoring the burning, he vanished the mess and resigned himself to starting over from scratch.

Severus left the dungeons, climbing upwards to appear before the headmaster's gargoyle. "Ice mice."

The gargoyle stepped to the side. Severus swept past and climbed higher, knocking on the Headmaster's door. "Enter," Dumbledore called cheerfully.

Severus strode inside. Dumbledore raised his head, and before he could open his mouth to greet him Severus interrupted with, "I've been summoned."

The twinkle in Dumbledore's eyes lessened slightly. "Good luck Severus. I shall be awaiting you until you get back."

Severus nodded curtly, and in a swirl of robes set for the gates.

* * *

Severus apparated just outside the dark and gloomy Malfoy Manor. He placed his mask over his face and strode through the gates, fortifying his mental shields and wondering what the cause of this meeting would be.

He rapped sharply on the door, only for it to be immediately wrenched open. Tiny, watery eyes in a rat-like face greeted him, as Wormtail stepped aside silently to allow him passage.

"Relegated to playing doorman now?" Severus sneered, enjoying the violent flinch it wrought from him. He had never liked the filthy little cretin.

Severus could hear the whoops and screams echoing from the depths of the Manor, guiding the path towards his destination. He pitied the unlucky sod chosen to be this evening's entertainment.

The din echoed from within the ballroom, a macabre revelry. A crowd of masked brutes surrounded the unfortunate soul writhing on the floor, wringing screams from him with each wave and jab of a wand. Severus took notice of the Dark Lord at the far right of the hall, overlooking the scene with a very serpentine look of satisfaction.

Voldemort, catching sight of Severus, beckoned him. Severus dutifully came to stand beside him, as Voldemort demanded the attention of the rest. "Enough! We have matters to attend to. Our _guest_ can wait."

The other Death Eaters turned to face the Dark Lord, revealing the object of their attentions. It was a credit to Severus' iron-clad control that he did not flinch. Laying on the floor, moaning in pain was none other than Remus Lupin.

'What in Circe is the bloody werewolf DOING here?' Severus thought furiously. As if Lupin and the rest of the merry band of idiots ever failed to make his life difficult enough. He may not like the werewolf, but he refused to watch him be tortured to death. Getting him out of here would be the ultimate risk.

Voldemort, perhaps sensing Severus' preoccupation, smirked at the look of loathing on his face. "Are you pleased, Severus? I know how much you truly detested this creature in your school days…"

Severus placed a smug look on his face, pretending to be pleased. "Nothing pleases me more, my lord. The wolf has brought nothing but aggravation since the day he stepped foot in Hogwarts."

The rest burst into laughter, and Voldemort released a few hissing chuckles. To Severus' horror, Lupin had weakly raised his head in recognition, and was looking at Severus with a face of utmost desperation.

"To your credit, Severus," Voldemort continued. "For that, I shall let you kill it. Make it interesting, won't you?" With that, he sat back in his throne, a look of manic glee twisting the already foul features of his face. The other Death Eaters stepped back in silence, anticipation thick in the air. Severus knew this would be his only chance.

He approached Lupin slowly. The werewolf was horrific to look at. The Death Eaters had clearly spent some time on him. Severus twisted the emergency portkey he wore on his middle finger, for split second uncertain. Squaring his jaw, Severus leaned down and slipped the portkey, a thin platinum ring, onto Lupin's finger. Before anyone could react, he muttered, "Hellbore," and watched as Lupin vanished into thin air.

There was a dead silence. Severus turned slowly to face Voldemort. The Dark Lord's face held no amusement now.

"Oh Severus, you should not have done that," Voldemort whispered malevolently. And then all was pain.

* * *

Severus came to awareness slowly. The smell of stale air and antiseptic greeted him, followed by a wave of pain throughout his body. His extremities felt weighed down, and he faintly registered a slow beeping nearby. He opened his eyes to see a searing white ceiling. _Where am I?_ he thought dazedly. The last thing he remembered was staggering painfully from the Manor, heartbeat pounding in his ears as he attempted to escape…

His pulse began to race at the thought of it, and he was startled as the beeping became fast and shrill. Clenching his hands, Severus attempted to sit up, only to be struck by intense dizziness. Suddenly, a brunette woman in blue clothing appeared, placing her hand gently on his chest.

"Now, now, it's good to see you're awake, but you mustn't strain yourself. Just lay back and rest, I can get you anything you need," the middle-aged woman said kindly. Severus lay back reluctantly and observed the woman fiddling with the no longer shrieking box to the side of him.

Now fully aware, albeit in considerable pain, Severus could fully examine his surroundings. The room was overwhelmingly muggle, from the strange contraptions attached to his extremities to the decidedly un-wizardly clothing the woman in his room wore. _A muggle hospital_ , Severus dimly recalled from his childhood, having followed his mother there to collect his father. Tobias Snape, intolerant of magic and so fond of drink, ended up in the hospital in town more than once.

His eyes stopped at the view from the window to his left. The sun sat high in the sky, indicating the time was somewhere around mid-morning.

Less concerned now with how he arrived there and more concerned with leaving, Severus considered his escape options. He grudgingly admitted that without magical medical attention his chances of escaping the hospital were slim. Still suffering from the Cruciatus curse, in addition to the various bludgeoning and bone-breaking curses he was inflicted with, just standing up would likely be a challenge.

A thought struck him. "Where are my r-…my clothes?"

The woman, smiling brightly, replied, "Oh, your things are being stored here until you get the go-ahead!" She gestured to a small cupboard to the right of his bed, only just out of reach.

Satisfied that no muggles were running amok with his wand, Severus sunk further into the pillows as he wracked his brain for a solution. Perhaps he could send a patronus to Albus…

A wave of drowsiness suddenly struck him. Severus turned his gaze back to the nurse, who had the audacity to beam at him as she adjusted the infernal muggle contraption attached to his arm. "Looks like the pain medicine is kicking back in. Just try to get some rest, you certainly need it!"

An acerbic reply lay on the tip of his tongue, but Severus was too exhausted to voice it. His last thought as he drifted of was 'Thank goodness Poppy is only half so aggravating…'

* * *

Severus' eyes snapped open. It took him a moment to remember his surroundings. The low shadows on the walls indicated he had slept until the late afternoon.

He needed to get out of this hospital. Were it not for the fact that Severus had fled to the most muggleish place he could think of, the Dark Lord would have found him already. He needed to reach Hogwarts if he had any hope of surviving.

Taking a quick survey of the room, Severus found himself alone. Seizing the opportunity, he attempted once more to sit upright. More dizziness. Severus, waiting until his head cleared, tried to swing his legs over the side of the bed. He only managed to swing his uninjured leg over when the door to his room swung open again.

"Now what do you think you're doing?" a new voice demanded.

Severus looked up with narrowed eyes at this new intruder. Approaching him was a petite woman, likely to be in her late twenties, in a white coat. Her golden-blonde hair was pulled up in a tight bun, and indigo eyes glared at him from underneath pale, tightly drawn brows.

"Get back in that bed, or you'll be stuck in this room longer than you'd like," scolded the woman, eyeing Severus until he reluctantly obeyed her. "I'm Doctor Chausse, and I'll be overseeing your care, Mr….?"

"Snape." Severus said mutinously. After waiting in vain for him to give her a first name, Dr. Chausse continued doggedly. "Pleasure to make your acquaintance, Mr. Snape."

The doctor took the clipboard from the edge of the bed. "You've been through quite an ordeal," she said, looking over the chart. "Dare I ask what inflicted you with such injuries? A broken leg, several broken fingers and ribs…"

Dr. Chausse glanced at him sideways, but Severus only stared at her in resolute silence. She sighed. "Of course not. Well, I guess it doesn't really matter, you'll be in casts for 6 weeks, but we can discharge you-"

Severus didn't have time for this. The back of his neck was starting to prickle in warning. "Doctor, I must have my things from the cupboard there. Give them to me."

Dr. Chausse, far from being perturbed, simply raised her eyebrows and pulled his things out of the cupboard. Setting them on the bed, she watched as Severus unfolded his robes and withdrew his wand.

Severus eyed the doctor warily as she looked at his wand in his hand. An Obliviation was due to be sure. But how was he to get his patronus to Albus with this woman hanging about?

He knew it was a long shot, but attempted it anyway. "Madam, as you've said yourself, I've been through quite an ordeal, so if you could possibly leave me be…?"

As expected, the woman was sharper that the average muggle. Her lips thinned as she replied, "I've several tests to run before declare you on the way to recovery, so unfortunately you'll have to bear with me for a few moments longer."

The woman began making her way to the crowd of muggle machinery alongside his bed as Severus sat grinding his teeth. The unpleasant feeling of paranoia was creeping upon him even stronger. There was nothing else for it.

While the woman's back was turned, Severus quietly cast his patronus. The ethereal doe sent dazzling light ricocheting across the room, causing the doctor to jerk in surprise and whirl around. She gasped in shock.

"How on earth…?" She whispered, staring at the doe with wide eyes.

Severus irritably flicked his wand, sending the doe out the window and on its way to Hogwarts. The doctor followed its course until it was no longer visible, then turning her gaze upon Severus.

"Just a foolish magic trick," Severus said, hoping to put her off until Albus arrived to Obliviate her.

The silly muggle was still gaping at him when screams echoed down the corridor.

 **A/N: End of chapter one! Reviews and constructive criticism highly welcomed, I encourage any tips or comments to better my writing.**


	2. Chapter 2

**A/N: Thanks for the reviews! I appreciate the feedback. I forgot to mention, this story will be set in book 5, and will be AU after the beginning of said book.**

 **Just a warning, the era of this story will be inconsistent with canon. I know that Harry Potter took place in the 90's, but a lot of muggle-ness will be included in the story and the muggle world of the 90's was rather different that the muggle world of today. So, I'm going to pretend that these events are happening in current time.**

BEEP. BEEP. BEEP.

Vivienne's hand swatted the alarm clock hard enough to knock it off the nightstand. She let her hand dangle off the edge of the bed, attempting to muster the motivation to get out of bed. Laying with her eyes closed, she contemplated what was sure to be an exhausting shift ahead of her.

Vivienne caught sight of herself in the mirror as she entered the bathroom. She grimaced at her tousled blonde hair and tired eyes. Working 12 hour shifts didn't do much for one's looks, that was for sure. She set to work trying to tame her frizzy hair, cursing it all the while.

It was with both hands in her hair and an elastic in her mouth that she noticed her phone buzzing insistently on the sink.

Appearing across the lock screen was a message from Oliver. "Are you just going to ignore me until dinner tomorrow then?" the text read. Vivienne could just picture the scowling look on his face when trying to pick a fight. She swiped firmly to the right and hit clear.

"Yeah Viv, give him a chance, you guys can make it work, he'll _understand_ …" Vivienne mocked herself, finally wrangling her hair into a bun and making herself look presentable.

Oliver, an old mutual friend, became something more after their kiss during the last New Year's celebration. Though the result of overindulgence, Vivienne thought he was cute and decided to give him a chance. That was her first mistake.

Oliver simply couldn't handle being second after Vivienne's career, and took to throwing fits like a toddler for attention. Vivienne's phone continued to buzz as she left the house; finally, in a fit of exasperation, she answered the phone.

"What in the hell is so BLOODY GODDAMN _IMPORTANT_?!" Vivienne shouted into the receiver. Washing his Subaru next door, her neighbor Thomas peeked over the top of his car in alarm. She waved vaguely in his direction as she stood next to her own car and listened to Oliver's sulky ramblings. "So, nothing important at all then? God you're so bloody needy, I don't want to hear from you until dinner tomorrow. If you can't respect my space, then perhaps we shouldn't be together at all!"

That shut him up quickly. Vivienne sighed, her indignation melting away at his silence. "Just leave me alone at work, Oliver, you know I'm either working or sleeping so please don't pester me. I'll call you tonight before bed, okay? Talk to you later." She hung up the phone and finally went on her way to work.

Arriving at the hospital, Vivienne entered to the usual scene of chaos. Crowds of people sat in the Emergency Room, and stretchers led by teams of paramedics and nurses zoomed down hallways. A nurse caught up with Vivienne as she rounded the corner.

"Dr. Chausse! We've got a guy in operating room 4B. Someone dropped him off outside the emergency room, he's been through the wringer-"

"His injuries specifically?"

"Definitely a broken leg, bruising suggests some broken ribs as well. Breathing is labored so some obstruction is likely, and distension of the stomach indicates some kind of internal injury and bleeding."

Vivienne nodded, her mind focused as she suited up and entered the operating room. Seeing the patients was always the hardest part to her, having a face matched to the horrible injuries.

Her patient was a man, possibly in his early forties. He had long black hair, and a rather prominent nose that was even more so from the swelling and bruising. Vivienne thought his rather severe face had the look of someone not unaccustomed to suffering.

Vivienne gave herself a mental shake and turned to her task of patching the man back up again.

* * *

Vivienne wearily sunk into a seat as she took the few spare moments allowed to her. She sat forward in her chair, elbows on her knees as she vigorously rubbed her face. The last few hours of her shift were always the hardest.

Mariam, one of the senior nurses, entered the room and busied herself making a cup of coffee. As always, she beamed at Vivienne and said far too jovially, "Must be nice to get a break, huh doctor?"

Vivienne tried to smile back with some enthusiasm. "You know how it is, Mariam." She liked Mariam, really, but what person was capable of being so damn cheery all the time? It just wasn't natural.

Mariam stirred her coffee, continuing to smile brightly. "That patient of yours, from 4B, woke up a few hours ago. Bit of a sour pickle, he was. Went right back to sleep after I administered his next dose of morphine, of course, but he should be waking up soon enough."

Vivienne nodded once as she stood and stretched. She needed to go over the results of surgery with that patient, along with getting the man's name.

"Thanks for the heads-up, Mariam. I'll see you later."

"No problem, doctor! Try not to work too hard." Mariam giggled at her own joke. Vivienne snorted at the thought. She took off on a brisk walk to speak to her patient.

Vivienne wasn't sure what she was expecting when she entered the room, but it certainly wasn't her patient groggily trying to get up and out of bed. "Now what do you think you're doing?" she demanded, eyeing the unsteady placement of his foot and hoping the man didn't fall flat on his face.

He lifted his face to look at her, and the level of hostility she saw there surprised her. His eyes were a dark brown, almost black.

"Get back in that bed, or you'll be stuck in this room longer than you'd like," she continued, uncowed by his frosty glare. "I'm Doctor Chausse, and I'll be overseeing your care, Mr….?" Vivienne hoped the man wouldn't make this more difficult than need be. He seemed the type.

"Snape," the man ground out. He looked as if the single admission pained him. After a few moments with no first name forthcoming, Vivienne decided she'd take what she could get.

"Pleasure to make your acquaintance, Mr. Snape." She lifted his clipboard and scanned the summary of his injuries. She knew what they were, of course, having fixed most of them, but the act of looking at the clipboard tended to put most patients at ease. This Snape chose not to be one of the most. He stared her down fiercely as she looked at the clipboard.

"You've been through quite an ordeal," she began, looking over the chart. "Dare I ask what inflicted you with such injuries? A broken leg, several broken fingers and ribs…" She trailed off and looked at him sideways, hoping he'd reply in kind, only to be disappointed. Snape's jaw was clenched tight as he stared at her in silence.

At this point, Vivienne was beginning to feel amused. _He's trying far too hard to keep tight-lipped_ , she thought, _doesn't he know how women take that as a challenge?_

Hiding her amusement, Vivienne issued a long-suffering sigh and said, "Of course not. Well, I guess it doesn't really matter, you'll be in casts for 6 weeks, but we can discharge you-"

To her surprise, Snape interrupted her. "Doctor, I must have my things from the cupboard there. Give them to me."

Vivienne, her curiosity now piqued beyond measure, fetched his things from the store cupboard. His items consisted of some type of black apparel, perhaps a pea coat, made of thick wool. Handing them to Snape, she watched unabashedly as he withdrew a long, thin, black stick from the coat. He eyed her with a speculative look on his face, still holding the strange stick in his hand. Vivienne had seen stranger things, but she was hard pressed to think of any stranger in that moment.

"Madam, as you've said yourself, I've been through quite an ordeal, so if you could possibly leave me be…?" Snape demanded.

Vivienne may be blonde, but she wasn't stupid. "I've several tests to run before declare you on the way to recovery, so unfortunately you'll have to bear with me for a few moments longer." She turned to the IV and heart monitoring equipment attempting to look occupied, but really, she was curious as to Snape's motivations. What did he want to do that required her absence? And what did it have to do with that black stick?

No sooner did she finish that thought than the walls in front of her danced with iridescent light. She whirled around, only to come face to face with a dazzling, glowing animal. A doe.

"How on earth…?" she heard herself whisper faintly. The doe nickered softly, before bounding out the window and into the night. Only after she could no longer see it did she turn back to face Snape.

He was staring at her cautiously, as if afraid she would burst into hysterics. "Just a foolish magic trick," he said smoothly. Vivienne didn't know whether to laugh or scream, and she was still trying to decide when a chorus of screams echoed down the corridor.

* * *

It was amazing how much paler Snape could become. His gaze hardened as he stared into Vivienne's eyes. "Help me stand," He said calmly, a direct contrast to the cacophony occurring several doors down.

When Vivienne continued to stand there, stupefied, Snape's glare became positively flinty. "NOW, doctor!"

At that, Vivienne snapped into doctor mode. She quickly helped Snape to his feet, where he swayed slightly, his stick pointed straight at the door. Vivienne was starting to believe there was more to his stick than she thought.

"Now what?" she said, feeling completely out of her depth. She hoped Mariam was okay.

"Now we wait," Snape said tersely. His gaze was trained on the door, meaning that he failed to see Vivienne's look of disbelief. "We wait?! Who knows what awful things are going on out there, and you just want to-"

" _I_ know what is going on out there, and I say we stay put!" Snape snapped, the look on his face daring her to argue. He wrenched his arm from her grasp, choosing instead to hold onto the edge of the bed for support. She stood motionless for a moment, torn between keeping him standing and standing away from the lunatic. After a moment of watching Snape with his gaze and stick trained on the doorway, she decided to step away from him for the moment.

She had no idea what was going on, and the screams made her want to clap her hands over her ears. _Maybe this is a bad dream_ , Vivienne thought feverishly, _maybe I'll wake up without this day ever having happened…_

Before she could try pinching herself, the door to the room slammed open. She froze, and watched as Snape jabbed his stick and made a red beam fly out of it. The stick then flew out of his hand, as a hulking figure made its way into the room towards him.

The figure cackled, its face hidden from Vivienne by a hood. Snape, however, knew the person well, judging from the look of loathing on his face. "Well, Snape, not looking too good. The traitor patched back together by useless, filthy muggle medicine. Tell me, Snape, did they fill your veins with filthy muggle blood too?"

Snape's glare would have killed any other man, of that Vivienne was sure. "I wouldn't know, Rosier. You know more of muggle tricks than I do, with your stupid squib of a father!"

The cloaked figure snarled in fury, and shouted something Vivienne could not make out while waving the stick again. Instantly, Snape began choking, like an invisible hand had wrapped itself around his throat. Vivienne snapped out of her stupor. Her hand scrambled uselessly behind her, until she grabbed ahold of a syringe.

Severus' face was quickly turning blue. The gasps issuing from him were ghastly. Vivienne filled the syringe with air and yanked the figure's hood back. She plunged the syringe into his beefy neck and pressed the stopper all the way down before he grabbed her arm and threw her to the ground.

Vivienne gasped as the wind was knocked out of her. Through streaming eyes she saw the ugly face of the man called Rosier, sneering down at her. Suddenly, his eyes widened and filled with blood as the capillaries burst and his heart stopped beating. He fell to the ground, dead.

Vivienne, exhaling shakily, turned to Snape. She found him sitting upright, leaning against the bed with his eyes half open. The glimmer of recognition in them calmed her as they both lay on the ground, breathing heavily. Another set of footsteps alerted her to more company.

One more hooded figure stood in the hallway, just outside the door. His gaze shifted downwards towards the fallen Rosier. He pulled out another stick ( _where are these people getting these sticks?_ Vivienne thought hysterically) and bellowed in rage. Before he could enter, a series of cracks drew all their attention.

The hooded figure, catching sight of something down the hall, fled without further ado. Vivienne crawled closer to Snape, hovering over him protectively as yet several more sets of footsteps approached their room.

This group, hooded like the last, gathered outside the doorway. Something was different about these people. One figure drew apart from the rest and walked into the room. Lowering his hood, Vivienne was shocked to see an older man, with a long grey beard and small, half-moon shaped spectacles.

The man smiled at her benevolently. "Hello, child, I assume you've been the one caring for Severus?" Vivienne, too confused to speak, only nodded. "We thank you kindly for your attentions, I'm sure you're very confused by all you've seen tonight."

Vivienne watched as the rest of the group came into the room. The old man said, "I introduce to you several members of the Order of the Phoenix. Worry not, we've come to rescue you."


End file.
